


Court Intrigue

by Lady_Ganesh



Category: Merlin (BBC), Weiß Kreuz
Genre: Community: springkink, Crossover, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-21
Updated: 2010-03-21
Packaged: 2017-10-09 05:53:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/83733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Ganesh/pseuds/Lady_Ganesh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The King's new favorite makes Gaius nervous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Court Intrigue

The throne room felt oppressive now; something maddeningly strange hung in the air, and Gaius couldn't escape the feeling that his every movement was being watched. Of course, it almost certainly was. The young Teuton was sitting to the left of the throne, his mouth twisted in thought. Uther insisted his advice had been invaluable, and Gaius was inclined to agree that the young man had his uses; but there was something strange and dark about him, and Gaius felt unsettled by his very presence. "Sire," he said. "I am not entirely sure this...method of negotiation will be successful. Perhaps if you took a few days to weigh the offer, we--"

"You're surely not suggesting I don't know my own mind?" Uther snapped.

"No," Gaius said, "of course not. I will pass the message as you requested."

The redhead flashed his teeth at Gaius. It wasn't exactly a smile. Gaius swallowed and left the room.

 

"It's not magic," Merlin said, in Gaius' chambers later. "At least no magic that's been seen in Camelot."

Gaius decided not to ask how Merlin knew exactly that; he suspected the answer, and it was not something he was ready to face. "So where does that leave us?" he asked, instead, knowing Merlin would have no answer but wanting to fill the silence.

"Confused, I suppose," Merlin said with a sigh. "At least he's not encouraging Uther toward further actions against the Old Religion."

"Not yet," Gaius corrected. "I'm concerned that...."

"It's merely a matter of time?"

Gaius didn't answer. If the truth were to be known, he had no idea what the young man's greater plans might entail or lead to. The sheer uncertainty was the worst of it; there was no plan to work against, just a pending sense of catastrophe that grew greater every day, as Uther pulled the young man further into his confidence and pushed Gaius and his advisors further away.

There was nothing they could do, for now, and that was the worst thing of all.

 

_If you let me go,_ the dragon hissed into Gaius' ear one night, the young man will no longer be a concern.

"Shut up," Gaius said, and turned over in the bed.

"He's in the King's chambers now, doing things your lady the Queen would never have _dreamt_ her husband desired." The dragon said _lady_ like it was the greatest of insults. "How long do you think it will be before Uther Pendragon has no will of his own?"

"Would that be such a bad thing?" Gaius muttered.

The dragon said nothing. Gaius wondered what he'd tried to tempt Merlin with. Probably Arthur's safety; the young man seemed to always put that ahead of his own, these days. Funny to think of how little they'd thought of one another at first.

There was hope. There was always hope. If they could only hold on....

 

"Your son disapproves," Schuldig said, stretching out against the bed. Luxury was a relative term in these rough times; the sheets were heavy cotton, not the silk he preferred, and he tried to ignore the insects he knew were crawling just under the straw mattress.

"My son," Uther said firmly, "understands very little of the realities of life."

"True," Schuldig said, thinking of the stories he'd read as a child, and how little that petulant, agitated child resembled any of them. He rolled onto his back and watched Uther as he dressed; he would allow no one to attend him but Schuldig, these days, and Schuldig had better things to do than fuss with brocade and armor. He was damn good-looking for a man his age, especially in times like these; all his teeth, most of his hair, a chest that was still impressively broad.

And so terribly, terribly easy to lead.

"You are the only one of all of them I can trust," Uther murmured, glancing in his direction.

"Uther," Schuldig said, rising from the bed and taking Uther's wrist, "you know you could trust me with anything." He didn't even need to plant the suggestion that Uther wasn't needed in the throne room _quite_ yet.

The king smiled and pushed him back against the mattress. Schuldig smiled. A few more weeks of this, and the kingdom would be in chaos; he shivered in pleasure at the thought. Would it change history, or would Arthur overcome his weaknesses and rise to the occasion? Either way it would be tremendous; anger, mistrust, perhaps a slaughter or two if he was lucky. The dragon's shields were impressive, but not invulnerable; things could get interesting indeed.

Uther pulled at the ties of his nightshirt, and Schuldig replaced his fantasy with the reality before him.

He wondered, briefly, what Crawford would say when they came to pick him up, and then lost himself again in Uther's lust.


End file.
